A post claiming that India’s passport ranking declined from 76th in 2014 to 125th in 2026 after Narendra Modi became Prime Minister of India is being widely circulated on social media platforms (here, here, and here). Through this article, let us fact-check the claim made in the post.

The archived version of this post can be found here.

Claim: India’s passport ranking was 76th in 2014 and, under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, it declined to 125th in 2026.

Fact: India’s passport ranking has not experienced a sharp decline from 76th in 2014 to 125th in 2026, as claimed in the viral post. According to the Henley Passport Index, India was ranked 76th in 2014, 85th in 2025, and 80th in 2026. According to the Global Passport Index (GPI) 2026, published by Global Citizen Solutions, India ranked 125th globally, down from 124th in the 2025 edition. It should be noted that these passport indices are published by different organisations and use different methodologies, so their rankings are not directly comparable. Hence the claim made in the post is MISLEADING.

In June 2026, Global Citizen Solutions released its Global Passport Index 2026, a comprehensive report ranking the overall strength of the passports of 197 countries. Unlike passport rankings that focus solely on visa-free travel, the Global Passport Index uses a broader assessment, evaluating countries across 14 distinct indicators. The methodology assigns the greatest weight to three core indices: the Enhanced Mobility Index (50%), the Investment Index (25%), and the Quality of Life Index (25%). India ranked 125th out of 197 countries, slipping from 124th in the 2025 edition. However, its overall passport score increased to 45.1, the highest in the past five years. It should also be noted that Global Citizen Solutions first published the Global Passport Index in 2021. The methodology used by Global Citizen Solutions to compile the Global Passport Index can be found here.

We then visited the official website of Henley & Partners, the organisation that publishes the Henley Passport Index. According to the website, the Henley Passport Index is based on data provided by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) and is supplemented, enhanced, and updated using extensive in-house research and open-source online data. The index covers 199 passports and 227 travel destinations and is updated monthly. The rankings are based on the number of destinations that passport holders can access without obtaining a visa in advance.

We also reviewed the Henley Passport Index rankings published between 2006 and 2026. According to the data available on the website, India ranked 71st in 2006, 73rd in 2007, 75th in 2009, 78th in 2011, 82nd in 2012, 74th in 2013, 76th in 2014, 88th in 2015, 85th in 2016, 87th in 2017, 81st in 2018, 82nd in 2019, 82nd in 2020, 90th in 2021, 83rd in 2022, 84th in 2023, 80th in 2024, 85th in 2025, and 80th in 2026.

Based on this information, it is clear that India’s passport ranking has not experienced a sharp decline from 76th in 2014 to 125th in 2026, as claimed in the viral post. According to the Henley Passport Index, India ranked 76th in 2014, 85th in 2025, and 80th in 2026. By contrast, the Global Passport Index (GPI) 2026, published by Global Citizen Solutions, ranked India 125th globally in 2026, down from 124th in the 2025 edition. It should also be noted that the Global Passport Index was first launched in 2021. Below is a comparison table showing India’s passport rankings over the years according to the Henley Passport Index and the Global Passport Index published by Global Citizen Solutions.

Apart from Global Citizen Solutions and Henley & Partners, several other organisations also publish passport rankings. Arton Capital has been publishing the Arton Capital Passport Index since 2015, which ranks passports primarily on the basis of the visa-free access they provide. Nomad Capitalist has been publishing the Nomad Capitalist Passport Index since 2017, which ranks passports not only on the basis of visa-free travel but also on factors such as international taxation laws, global perception, dual citizenship, and personal freedom.

When the Henley Passport Index 2025 was released in January 2025, India’s ranking fell to 85th from 80th in the 2024 edition. In February 2025, a Member of Parliament raised a question in the Lok Sabha regarding India’s ranking in the Henley Passport Index 2025. In response, the Minister of State in the Ministry of External Affairs, Shri Kirti Vardhan Singh, stated: “There are certain private institutions which publish such ratings based on parameters decided by them. However, there is no widely accepted global standard for ranking passports due to the absence of universally accepted criteria. The Government of India has been continuously making efforts to increase the number of countries offering visa-free travel, visa-on-arrival, and e-Visa facilities to Indian citizens in order to facilitate international travel. At present, 26 countries offer visa-free entry, 40 countries offer visa-on-arrival facilities, and 58 countries offer e-Visa facilities to Indian passport holders. The details of these are regularly updated by the Ministry on its official website, which can be accessed at the following link: https://www.mea.gov.in/VFFIN.htm.”

A similar response was given by Shri Kirti Vardhan Singh in the Rajya Sabha in December 2024, when Rajya Sabha MP Parimal Nathwani raised a question regarding the international ranking of the Indian passport.

According to the Ministry of External Affairs website, as of 8 July 2026, Indian passport holders enjoy visa-free access to 27 countries, visa-on-arrival access to 47 countries, and e-Visa access to 66 countries.

To sum it up, India’s passport ranking has not declined from 76th in 2014 to 125th in 2026, as claimed. In the Henley Passport Index 2026, India ranks 80th, while in the Global Passport Index 2026 published by Global Citizen Solutions, India ranks 125th.